New Owner of Local Standout says 'This is the One'

Beloved Starliner Diner changes Hands; Adds Historic Brand

Hilliard’s destination restaurant Starliner Diner will soon add new fare to its menu and a few more words to its name but little else will change.

“We are keeping the entire Starliner Diner menu,” and décor, new owner Tim Burkhammer said Feb. 13.

Within two weeks, the restaurant is to be rebranded “Starliner Diner & Nancy’s Home Cooking,” incorporating the names of both restaurants and legacies that Burkhammer has acquired.

Image courtesy of the Starliner Diner

While Burkhammer worked for several years to find a location to reopen Nancy’s Home Cooking since its shuttering in 2020, the new owner said he had no plans to acquire Starliner Diner.

That is, until he ordered a breakfast burrito on a Sunday morning in December.

By the end of January, Burkhammer was the new owner.

“I couldn’t believe how good (the food) was,” said Burkhammer, who thought his first visit was off to a bad start when he was placed in a deep corner of the bustling restaurant that was seemingly overcrowded.

The opportunity to purchase the Starliner was brought to his attention by his long-time broker, who scopes out restaurants and other potential real-estate acquisitions for Burkhammer. After his start owning and operating multiple pizzerias Burkhammer has developed several other businesses, including 8 Ball Sports Bar & Billiards, 2100 Morse Road, in Columbus, and the Jug Grill & Patio, in Delaware.

“He told me there’s a diner in Hilliard going on the market that you’re going to want,” Burkhammer said.

However, once he was told Starliner specialized in Cuban food he told his agent he wasn’t interested.

But the broker persisted and so Burkhammer found himself at that corner table devouring a breakfast burrito with traditional black beans on the side. About six weeks later, as the owner of the Starliner Diner.

At once, Burkhammer began contemplating the best possible merger of the two well-known restaurants.

Images courtesy of the Starliner Diner website

Molly Mahoney opened the Starliner Diner in 1994, first at 5240 Cemetery Road, then, after the construction of Landmark Lofts upon its original site, relocating it to 4121 Main St., in the heart of the Old Hilliard district.

“A lot of thought went into the decision to sell,” said Mahoney, who after deciding not to renew a lease struck a deal to sell it to Burkhammer.

“Tim will do good things for the Starliner. He has owned businesses and has the experience needed to run the diner,” Mahoney said.

Mahoney thanked her customers who made operating the diner for 30 years possible.

A Unique Opportunity to Renew a Legacy

Nancy’s Home Cooking opened in 1968 at 3133 N. High St. in Columbus’ Clintonville district.

It remained a family-owned business at that location until 2019 when a change in ownership of the land forced it to relocate to a site in downtown Columbus.

But the new downtown location only operated mere months before the COVID-19 pandemic struck followed by unrest and riots stemming from the George Floyd protests in large cities throughout the United States that together caused its closure.

In response, Nancy’s Home Cooking served up its fare at “pop-up” events that included the 8 Ball Sports Bar & Billiards.

Burkhammer invited Nancy’s Home Cooking owner Rick Hahn to serve its famous chicken and noodles, and beef tips and noodles, at his sports bar.

“Every time the response was crazy, like 400 noodle dinners in three hours,” Burkhammer said.

To that end, Burkhammer will include the chicken-and-noodle dinner, and beef tips-and-noodles dinner every day, he said.

Other items, such as the meatloaf, will be on the menu on certain days, he said.

Burkhammer said he will continue to give further consideration to which other platters from Nancy’s menu will be offered, and when.

Further, Burkhammer said he aspires to expand both brands outside Hilliard, possibly opening other locations once he fine-tunes the operation of the combined restaurants.

“I plan on doing this for about another 15 years at least,” said Burkhammer, 53, hoping to hand it all over to his three children when the time comes.

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Make sure to subscribe to the Hilliard Beacon to get Part Two of our interview and profile of the new owner / operator of Starliner Diner & Nancy’s Home Cooking in your inbox tomorrow! Also, please ease up on the phone calls re: the sale but keep those orders coming!

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